Fail, and face Erasure
by Frog-kun
Summary: Rhyme struggles to come to terms with a Shibuya without her partner. An introspective AU where Beat was erased in the first week instead of Rhyme.
1. Fail, and face Erasure

**Summary:** Rhyme struggles to come to terms with a Shibuya without her partner. An introspective AU where Beat was erased in the first week instead of Rhyme.

**Fail, and face Erasure**

Beat had a dream.

Sometimes, Rhyme looks at him as he plows through life and she thinks, maybe, she can understand that. But she can't.

* * *

Rhyme's memories of when she was alive are actually sort of fuzzy, as if there are parts of it that have been rubbed clean. If she thinks hard enough, she might be able to work out what exactly seems so fuzzy, yet nothing stands out to her in particular.

When she thinks about it, that's how her whole life has been. She can recall normal, mundane things like buying a dress from Lapin Angelique with her mother or tying on her shoelaces in the morning. She can remember scoring well on a maths test but not feeling anything in particular about it. Nothing about her stands out. That is how she is.

It's nothing to be so upset about. At least she had the decency to take things in stride.

* * *

It all changes when Beat is erased.

All she can think after that is: _"I deserved it. Not him."_

There was more to her thoughts when it happened. It is like her heart gives forth a weak thump, as if something stifling is pressing up against it. And then - _"oh no, oh no, oh no" _when she realises what has happened.

There is not even a dead body to hold onto because they are both dead and he is simply more gone than she is.

She knows that it is her fault for letting her guard down at precisely the same time he did. She is frozen to the spot as the Noise makes its move and when she exhales after the sickening, pregnant pause that follows, she can only shiver and think that this could not possibly be real.

She wishes she could have thrown herself against Beat and saved him. She remembers that her death was meaningless and pointless, that she had not perished for anyone's sake.

She wonders what price she paid to enter the games. Whatever it was, it was not worth it.

* * *

She only knew Beat for a few days but she knows him as a nice person. She could see it as the days matured: that he was spreading his wings and beginning to fly. He treats her with a kindness that she does not deserve. It is actually sort of funny, how he pretends to be so tough but shuts up pretty quickly even when she is not that mad at him at all, really.

Sometimes, he looks at her when he does not think she notices. It's through his fleeting glances that Rhyme knows that he is just as pleased to meet her as she is to meet him.

He is all she has to hold onto.

* * *

"You're going pretty far for a stranger," Neku remarks, when he forges a pact with her. He is the person she meets at the Statue of Hachiko on the first day of the second week.

"We're the same," Rhyme tells him. "Shiki was your price, wasn't she?"

She knows from Neku's morose silence that she is right.

Maybe this was the reason she never had dreams, she thinks. Not _dream _dreams because people don't have dreams in the UG, but dreams like the one Beat had, to be the best skater in the world.

To be the best, one has to knock aside all the opposition.

Rhyme is not sure she can do that. Her heart breaks, because the Noise that should be on her shoulder is not there because that was _her _price.

… And only one person can win the Game.

* * *

"You've already forged a pact with someone else?" says the boy. "How disappointing."

Rhyme blinks because she hadn't noticed someone watch them until the boy speaks up. He is an effeminate boy with an easy smile. Rhyme is not sure what to make of him.

"Who are you?" asks Neku bluntly. His hands are shoved into his pockets, a clear indication of his current _I-hate-the-world _mindset.

"The name's Yoshiya Kiryuu. But Mother and Father call me Joshua."

He leaves after that, waving his hands as if to make light of Neku's barrage of questions. From that day on, Rhyme is aware that Joshua is watching them.

* * *

There is too much that Rhyme does not understand. Exactly _what _the Reaper Games are and why it takes place in Shibuya is something beyond her comprehension. When she first arrived, she was able to claim some understanding of the internally consistent rules in the Games, after all, she was the one who explained everything to Beat.

But when the Reaper Games defy their own logic, when a boy without a partner can participate, is when Rhyme's head begins to hurt.

She wishes she can be a little bit more like Beat. Maybe it was because he was there that she never became so confused.

She does not understand, for instance, why she likes Neku less than Beat, even as the days go by and she has come to know Neku for longer than she did Beat. She knows Neku when he shuffles away to some quiet place – to _think_. She knows Neku when he is determined. She knows Neku when he helps her erase the Noise.

She does not know the Neku who will give her sideways glances and who will really, _really _make an effort to change. Change comes upon him from inside without him realising or understanding it.

They are similar.

* * *

On the third day, they are eating burgers at Sunshine together when she suddenly says, "It's weird, isn't it?"

Neku doesn't have to ask what. He chews his burger meditatively and just nods.

"It's like we switched partners, isn't it?" Rhyme continues as she looks up at the sky.

"More than that," Neku interjects. He sighs. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Do you ever wonder what Shiki would think if she were here?"

"Sometimes, but it's hard. Same for you and Beat?"

Rhyme responds with a slightly strained nod. It's not that she wants Neku to disappear and for Beat to reappear, she simply wonders...

_... what might have been._


	2. Beat, Day 5

**Author's note:** So I decided to continue this fic, whoopee! But I got ideas to take this fic in a different direction, so bring it, yo!

Chapters from here will be in anachronistic (non-chronological) order. The chapter titles will make it pretty clear where it all fits in the timeline, though. Except for the italicized text, although the purpose of it will probably become clearer to you as you read along. Btw, I'm referring to _Rhyme's _partner in the chapter titles, not Neku's.

* * *

_She giggles._

"_Whatchu laughin' for?" he demands, even though he's not frowning at all, really._

"_You're not so good at keeping secrets."_

"_Awww, what? No way!"_

"_Yes way. Hee hee. Mind telling me what's on your mind?"_

"… _I can't."_

"_Oh."_

"_It's not like… not like we're siblings, yo."_

_She smiles._

"_That's okay. We're a lot _like _siblings, aren't we?"_

**Beat, Day 5**

Beat was erased yesterday.

Today, Rhyme is with a man named Mr. Hanekoma.

Mr. Hanekoma doesn't seem to do much. He pushes up his sleeves and wipes dirty coffee cups that no one except he seems to drink from. To his credit, he does happen to play the same sort of music Rhyme listens to in his café (Indie Rock; Rhyme thinks 777 is _amazing_), and he has a fair few number of CAT designed posters hanging up in the back room.

When Rhyme first arrives at Mr. Hanekoma's café, she doesn't look at her surroundings at all. Instead, she slumps down on the nearest table, puts her hands over her face and sits still for a while, thinking.

Mr. Hanekoma doesn't say anything to her. Or maybe he does. He asks her if she can help him mop the floor. And maybe that's how she ends up with a mop in her hands, staring at the water slowly seeping out from its ends. She's not really mopping at all.

"What am I doing here?" she asks aloud.

She barely even registers Mr. Hanekoma's response at first. "You're helping with the shop," he says, as he puts down his dirty glass and picks up an equally soiled one from the sink.

Rhyme pauses, lets the words wash over her. She has always liked words, how they can be pretty, how, when they are carefully chosen, they can mean the world. Right now, she has lost her faith in words. It takes her a while to even figure out the meaning of Mr. Hanekoma's words.

"Yes," she says finally, "but why am I helping you, exactly?"

"Gives you something to do," Mr. Hanekoma replies. "Until the end of the week, that is."

Rhyme gives him a look, not a sharp look, but a look nonetheless. "Then what?"

"That's for you to decide."

* * *

Rhyme is surprised when, reaching into her pocket in a moment of pensive silence (she needs something to _do_), her fingers close around her player pin.

It's warm to touch because it's been stuffed into the depths of her pocket for all this time.

* * *

Even dead people must eat, and Rhyme peers with interest at her food (she's assuming Mr. H can cook since he owns a café but still).

"Bouillabaisse?" She's never eaten it before.

"Picky eater?" Mr. H says with a knowing raise of his eyebrow. He turns around to fix the cutlery on the table. When he looks back, he stares at Rhyme's plate for a while before roaring with laughter. Life has enough surprises to astound even an angel.

The bouillabaisse is gone. Rhyme has eaten enough for two.

* * *

"I run this café here," Mr. Hanekoma explains to her once they close up business for the day. "My other job is watching over the game, make sure things go smoothly."

Rhyme thinks about that. "My partner was erased by Noise," she says. "That's not technically against the rules."

"That's why he's not here," Mr. H says.

_Right_, Rhyme thinks glumly.

She wonders why she even asked.

Poor Beat. He'll never have his price returned to him. Or his dreams.

"Someone who's erased…" She gulps. "He can never come back, right?"

Mr. H scratches the back of his head. "I wouldn't say that exactly."

At that moment, Rhyme regains her faith in words. Only they would have the power to bind her to the spot and leave her tongue-tied and hoping… maybe…

She chooses her next words carefully, because in this tiny, chaotic world she's in, they mean everything. She's never been more conscious of the power of words.

"Is there something that I can do to bring him back?"

And Mr. H replies:

"Yes."


	3. Neku, Day 2

_She should be unkempt and smelling like sweat and fatigue when she gets back home._

_She's not; her parents seem to think she smells like roses._

_The fragrance is sweet, but there's something missing from it. Her brother isn't there._

_He's the one who tells her she doesn't smell like roses at all and she should quit following him because it's lame if others see her doing that._

_It's strange to think he's gone abroad now, and this time, he hasn't given her a pendant to treasure._

**Neku, Day 2**

It all comes down to this. Fail, and face erasure.

Rhyme's palms are moist with sweat. She grips her pins tightly, faces her opponents and feels her resolve well up within her.

"Come at me, bro!" declares Shuto Dan, the Tin Pin player known as Shooter.

They slam.

Rhyme manipulates her pin with careful, precise and fluid movements. She makes sure to save her Whammies for when they matter most.

Shooter's pin zooms across the table as if it is on fire. Rhyme waits until Shooter is on the cusp of battering her and then she uses the Stinger.

She watches. But Shooter is not defeated. His pin skids to a jarring halt about a millimeter away from Rhyme's. His seemingly unrestrained ferocity masks his expert control.

He's good.

Rhyme is determined to match him.

They run out of time before they run out of pins. The referee holds up the winner's arm. Shooter wins by one point.

"Oh, gee!" Rhyme can hear Shooter yell enthusiastically. "You were really good! Let's play again sometime!"

Rhyme responds with a small, strained nod. She is pensive because her mind is working furiously. She needs a new plan.

Shooter peers at her. "Whoa! I didn't know you were a girl! Br-!" He stops himself. "Sis!"

Rhyme smiles. It is impossible to resent the boy who defeated her.

"Oh, great," says a glowering Neku. "Now what?"

Now what indeed. The two of them signed up for a Tin Pin tournament in Molco because the mission mail seemed to hint at that but now they're both out of the running.

They're players. They need to win the Reaper Game for the sake of their friends.

"Sorry, Neku," she says with a sigh. "I wasn't good enough to cut it."

He shrugs, taps his foot against the carpet, paces around, glowers some more. He's frustrated but not at Rhyme. "At least you could play," he says. "Anyone teach you?"

"Yeah, my brother. We played a little bit when we were bored. Loser treated the winner to curry ramen."

Neku nods. He looks somewhat interested, but he's still casting anxious glances towards Shooter. The final round of the tournament is about to commence.

Rhyme knows they need a miracle.

* * *

They get their miracle, too.

Shooter loses, and as the crowd cheers a young couple as the winners, Rhyme examines the room and thinks she sees someone shuffle away into obscurity.

He is familiar.

Rhyme nudges Neku. "It's Joshua."

"Where?"

Rhyme squints. "I can't see him," she says. "But if you do a scan…"

"Right on it."

Neku touches his player pin and closes his eyes. He is silent for a moment. Then suddenly he grabs at the sides of his head and groans. He is in pain.

"Are you all right?" Rhyme asks anxiously. She's never seen Neku so shaken.

"I saw… at Udagawa… on the ground…"

There's more to the Reaper Game than winning it, and as Rhyme watches her partner struggle to regain his composure, this single thought pulsates through her mind.

* * *

Rhyme fights with energy chakrams she summons from around her wrist. They're like flat little hoops but they're shimmering and sharp and they have the power to erase the Noise. She flings them at her enemies and catches them on the return if she can. So far, they've served her pretty well and she was able to perform some nifty fusions with Beat.

But Neku isn't Beat, and the Taboo Noise come out of nowhere.

* * *

Rhyme has always been a natural pacifist; she has always preferred to settle things with words. _"The pen is mightier than the sword." _It's one of the things she has always said to Beat.

("My skateboard could crush 'em both, yo," was Beat's reply at the time, and that made Rhyme giggle because Beat really was amazing on a skateboard. He was, he was.)

Now she has to fight because even though she doesn't have dreams, there are other things worth fighting for.

She's scared. It's like jumping into a dark and endlessly vast ocean and there's no lifejacket, no nothing.

She has a partner, though, and if there's one thing she's learned in Shibuya, it's to trust her partner.

Neku whips out his pins, taps his foot against the ground to some rhythm playing from his headphones and prepares to fight the Noise.

They fight, and even though these Noise are tough in a way Rhyme has never quite experienced before, she thinks of Beat and Shiki and Neku.

Rhyme wonders how far her partner's come and how far they can go together.

* * *

"Put your best foot forward!"

"Same to you!"

* * *

They're panting when it all ends.

"What were those things?" Neku demands, although strangely, Rhyme is not so concerned with the Taboo Noise themselves.

The Game is out of their control.

Rhyme looks at Neku, sighs and then smiles. "I'm glad you're all right," she says.

Neku nods in reply. "You too," he replies. They don't need to say much to each other.

It's through the silence that Rhyme can perceive how much she needs Neku. They both want the same thing and without him, her plan of action could never succeed.

It's funny, really. She doesn't even know what sort of music he listens to. He doesn't share his headphones.

She wonders if she is right for him. She is not Shiki. She is not bright and cheerful in a way that brightens up the lives of those around her.

Somehow, this is important.

Somewhere, she can feel Joshua watching.

* * *

**Author's note: **Since so little is provided by the game itself, I took some liberties with Rhyme's backstory and abilities. I chose energy chakrams as Rhyme's weapon of choice because she's small, agile and seems to be rather smart. Chakrams are versatile weapons that would probably suit her physique and (as I imagine it in my head) her auxiliary fighting style. I imagine you could be disagreeing with me on this, and for that, I'm sorry.

Story-wise, from here, I'll slowly be filling in the gaps I've left in the plot since chapter 1. This probably won't be longer than ten chapters. Hopefully, I'll be able to update again soon. Thank you for reading this far!


	4. Beat, Day 6

_Sometimes, he holds her hand when they're crossing the road and distractedly, he looks this way and that for signs of cars. It makes her laugh; he's like an overprotective older brother. _

_It makes her smile too. It's like there's this steady trickle of warmth seeping into her heart. There's no need to question what this light, frothy sort of feeling means. Far from feeling vulnerable, she's never felt more secure._

_When she presses her hand against his, his is almost twice her size. It's always warmer than hers too._

_She decides she likes his hands. She likes to run her finger down the crease lines and think about how much she's reminded of a simple happiness she's only ever known in her childhood._

_He lets her do it. He might think it's a little weird, but he's had to put up with stranger things in the RG. And the memories are what make her break out into tears of relief and joy as she clutches his hand just a little tighter. (There, there, that's enough. She'll be okay.)_

**Beat, Day 6**

"Pleased to meet you," Rhyme whispers to the pin that contains Beat's soul. And then, to Mr. H, she says thank you, over and over again.

Perhaps now she can begin to pay for the terrible mistake of letting her guard down.

* * *

She doesn't quite know how to use Beat's pin yet.

She's squatting outside WildKat examining the pin carefully. She flips it over in the palm of her hand and then stares directly at it, thinking. She has had this sudden burst of inspiration and she knows, theoretically, the way to use the pin. It is as if someone has imprinted a set of instructions in her mind.

She had no idea it was possible to imprint on players as well. Yet even though she knows how to use the pin, it's simply not working for her at the moment. There must be more to it than simply pressing her thumb against it and concentrating on its psyche.

"Patience is a virtue," she whispers to herself and she sits back and closes her eyes.

* * *

When she was alive, her parents never really said that she was patient, but they always implied that they thought so. They never reprimanded her; it was always her older brother who copped the blame for everything. Even if Rhyme forgot to do her chores or if she was late getting up out of bed, her parents didn't mind because her brother always did something worse.

It was always _her brother and look what he did this time _to them. They never worried about her because she was the nice one. But _he _was the nice one, and sometimes, Rhyme wished everyone could see that too.

Rhyme builds up her collection of adages and trudges through life, relatively unnoticed.

* * *

She opens her eyes and knows she has to do what she can.

She doesn't want to be lonely in this world.

* * *

The boy is the first customer Rhyme has seen walk into WildKat. It doesn't surprise her at all when he walks up to Mr. H and strikes up friendly conversation with him. The two know each other.

Rhyme _would _go back to mopping the floor and mentally probing out her problems with Beat's pin, but she's actually kind of curious about what sort of customers Mr. H would get.

Joshua. His name is Joshua. Rhyme is really not sure what to make of him.

When Joshua tilts his head to the side and notices Rhyme looking at him, she doesn't look away in shyness. Instead, one hand still clenching the mop, she gives him a small wave.

(_I don't trust him_, she thinks, and is somehow surprised by her own inner hostility_._)

Joshua waves back at her.

* * *

He sits down at a table and talks to her, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. Rhyme vaguely wonders how he can hold it without suffering third-degree burns.

"Mr. Hanekoma brews the most wonderful coffee," Joshua remarks. He is very fluent in the language of liars.

"You seem like you know him well," Rhyme says. Anyone who knows Mr. H knows that his coffee machine is broken and he serves instant coffee to the patrons.

Joshua smiles. "Did you know that instant coffee was invented by a Japanese man – Satori Kato – in 1901? The powder is made by dehydrating and extracting roasted coffee beans dissolved in water. Sounds disgusting, doesn't it?"

Oh, thinks Rhyme. So he did know it was instant coffee after all.

"Never judge a book by its cover," she says, half to him, half to herself. "Pleased to meet you." And then she peers at Joshua and asks, "So, um, you're a player, right?" She heard Joshua mention 'RG' when he was with Mr. H.

Joshua smirks and waves a hand dismissively. "Not this time. I'm an observer."

Rhyme looks at him with confusion so he explains pleasantly: "Let's put it this way. I've always been able to see some interesting things." He continues before Rhyme can press him for more answers. "My turn to ask a question. I can see your player pin. Where's your partner?"

Rhyme looks down at Beat's pin. She's still grasping it tightly in her hand. "Right here," she says sadly. There's no point in hiding the truth, she thinks.

Joshua leans over, traces his finger over the pin, and then leans back against his seat. "What about your partner's body? Do you know how to get it back?"

Slowly, Rhyme shakes her head, as if there is an invisible weight tugging at her face.

"There is a simple way," Joshua remarks lightly. "The Composer's the one who makes the rules. All you have to do is find the Composer and take him down."

Rhyme isn't sure what to make of Joshua. She really isn't sure.

Yet she sees the sense in what he's saying.

"I know," she answers. "That was my plan."

* * *

Rhyme has always been a clever girl, but never to the extent that she's stood out among a crowd. At school, she was never the highest scorer on a test, but she was nowhere near last.

She's never assumed that anything she's ever done will ever lead her anywhere.

When Joshua leaves the café, Rhyme is back to staring at her pin, wondering, _wondering _how everything in her life has led up to this week.

She knows that if she calls out to Beat, he will help her. She really, honestly thinks that this is what he would do, even though she is little more than a stranger to him.

_(drip, drip, drip. she bleeds. she soars.)_

* * *

"Please to meet you," she says for the third time that day.

The Noise emits a soft growl that sounds like a whine. All bark and no bite, Rhyme thinks.

"I'm sorry," she tells the Noise. "I would have picked a bigger form for you but then you might mess up the café and Mr. H wouldn't like that."

She leans over and pets the Noise again.

"I, uh, gave you a mini skateboard. Wild Boar had a sale."

She feels soft fur against her fingertips and shudders at the feel of it. With her other hand, she clutches the black pin tighter against her chest. It's one small hurdle gone and she can feel the tightness in her throat slowly begin to ease.

"I'll get your real body back," she whispers. "Beat."

The (very) petite bear Noise growls again and opens a mouth filled with a row of blunt and pearly teeth, but Beat's not mad, not really.

It's like he can never quite be angry at Rhyme.

* * *

**Author's note: **If you're curious, this is sort of how I imagine Beat's Noise form (but without the shades and with black fur): www(dot)vermontteddybear(dot)com(slash)SellGroup(slash)Skateboarder-Bear(dot)aspx

Thanks to The Jabberer for helping me find the greatest teddy bear! -shot-


	5. Neku, Day 4

_Sometimes, he'd rather be left alone._

_When that happens, there's nothing she can say to console him. It's because he's so happy at the same time. He's smothering his sorrow with his relief._

**Neku, Day 4**

"Want to go to Udagawa?"

Neku is startled by Rhyme's sudden suggestion. He stops sipping his can of coke and looks at Rhyme, almost as if he is seeing her for the first time.

"What for?" he asks, quietly.

Rhyme knows that if Neku wasn't already dead, he would be dying of curiosity. Yet for the last few days, he has been hesitant to speak about what is on his mind.

They sit inside the cool, air-conditioned confines of Shibuyuku's Sunshine. Rhyme figures out that the Taboo Noise cannot enter any shops and so inside, they have been safe from erasure.

Rhyme is starting to get worried.

"We don't know what the Game Master is up to," she explains to Neku. "We haven't been getting any mission mail since the second day. The Taboo Noise are running amok and there's all those trash heaps around town."

Neku nods and grimaces.

"And there are more mysteries," Rhyme continues thoughtfully. "Like Joshua and why he doesn't have a partner and why he has memories of you lying dead in Udagawa."

There. It's out in the open now. Neku is visibly shaken by the thought that someone so connected to his death is walking Shibuya's streets. As for Rhyme, she thinks of the boy she met at WildKat and she wonders if maybe, just maybe, _he _is the thread that binds all of the answers together.

Neku speaks up. "So you're saying we might dig up some dirt on this Joshua if we go to Udagawa?"

He doesn't seem very optimistic, so Rhyme smiles for him.

(He's doing this all for Shiki.)

* * *

They don't quite make it to Udagawa without any detours.

When 777 approaches Neku and Rhyme about a missing microphone, Neku is spectacularly unimpressed. Rhyme, on the other hand, quips, "One good turn deserves another!"

Neku scowls, looks at 777 and then at Rhyme. When his eyes fall upon his partner, he notices her hopeful expression, and something in his demeanour softens.

"Fine, let's help the guy out."

* * *

They're at Udagawa now, and it feels like there's a crackling sort of electricity here, even though they're in the back streets. Rhyme likes Udagawa; it's a street that bursts at its seams just like the rest of Shibuya, but it does so at its own pace. People work more slowly here – Neku and Rhyme sprinted on their journey but now that they are at their destination, time feels like it's slowing down. Neku's eyes are drawn to the CAT mural at the end of the street, and Rhyme can understand why this is the place he died. Udagawa feels so _Neku_.

Rhyme thinks this, yet there are also other things on her mind.

She nudges her partner. "Look, over there!" she whispers. "Isn't that the Game Master?"

There is no mistaking it. The current Game Master Minamimoto is striding imperiously around the street. In the backdrop lies yet another striking example of his interesting taste in art.

"The Grim Heaper!" Neku breathes. "What's he doing here?"

Rhyme wordlessly places a finger to her lips. Neku falls silent and the two of them watch as Minamimoto scribbles something over his trash heap, all the while muttering mathematical jargon under his breath. When he is satisfied with his work, he leaves, not without yelling into the megaphone he pilfered from the Phone Booth of Love as he does so. Rhyme is glad they got that situation sorted out, but there is a more compelling mystery afoot here.

There has to be a reason for this, Rhyme thinks. Maybe the reason why Minamimoto is ignoring his duties is because he has dreams. Intellectually, Rhyme can understand that.

No less than a minute after Minamimoto leaves, Joshua arrives seemingly from nowhere. He walks up to the trash heap, peers at the scribbles and casually fiddles with his cell phone.

Neku can restrain himself no longer.

"Hey, you!" He's on his feet and Rhyme watches in alarm as he stomps over towards Joshua. "What are you doing here? Who exactly _are _you?"

Joshua does not appear too frazzled. "Tee hee, it's good to see you, Neku dear."

"Can't say the same for you," Neku replies tartly. "Now just answer my questions!"

"I will, I will. I hope you don't keep that face up or you'll get wrinkles early."

Rhyme cuts in before Neku can find a blunt object to hit Joshua with.

"Joshua, do you remember me? I was in Mr. H's café."

It is Neku's turn to watch on in bewilderment. "You _know _this creep?"

Rhyme nods stiffly.

Joshua laughs.

"We're acquaintances," he says. "Tell me, Rhyme, are you still looking for the Composer?"

And Rhyme says, "I've already found him."

She doesn't actually know the Composer's identity for certain is but she's had strong suspicions for a while that Joshua is connected somehow. He's friends with Mr. H, who has his own fair share of secrets, and he's been able to interact with the UG even though he's not really a Player or a Reaper.

Joshua's reaction will confirm everything.

He smiles, and that's how Rhyme knows he's seen right through her. She gulps. She's never quite felt this sensation before…

"So zetta slow!"

Rhyme is startled. That wasn't Joshua's voice.

It is Minamimoto, and he strides into view with what can only be described as a maniacal grin on his face.

"Can't believe it took you so long to work out," he says.

"Wh-what?" shouts Neku. He's grabbing the sides of his head again, cringing as if he has a migraine. "What's going on here?"

Rhyme bites her lip. She's only a simple player; she's felt increasingly out of her depth when it comes to the Game, but never as much as she does now. "You're after the Composer too!"

"Heh," smirks Minamimoto. "You insignificant fractals. Like I'd ever team up with you. I'm a prime number!"

"So wait," says Neku. "The Composer… it's _Joshua_?"

What what _what what_.

But Rhyme is not too surprised.

Joshua shrugs. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag. You weren't meant to find out this early, Neku."

Neku has sprung to his feet. "C'mon, Rhyme, we have to take this creep out!"

This is it _this is it_.

Minamimoto _erupts _into laughter.

It feels demeaning to Neku and Rhyme, and they turn to glare at him in unison.

"You worthless tetrahedra have _zero _chance of winning!" Minamimoto declares. "Think he's just another Noise? He's the Composer!"

It is strange to hear a warning from a high-ranking Reaper, especially from someone as arrogant and self-absorbed as Minamimoto. Rhyme thinks: could this pale, thin boy they're facing reallybe _that_ strong?

"We still have to give it a try!" Neku shouts to her. "What about Shiki and Beat?"

Right, right, Rhyme thinks shakily. She can't give up. Beat wouldn't do that, and _he's _the one with the dream.

She summons her chakrams and draws herself up to her full height.

"On the count of three, Neku…" she whispers to her partner. He nods firmly.

"One…"

"Two…!"

Before her lips can form 'three' there is a blinding flash of light.

Rhyme can feel no heat against her skin, just a pure burst of energy. She feels no sensation of pain but for some reason, she can't keep steady on her feet. It's enough to knock her off her feet and leave her gasping for air.

(_oh no oh no oh no)_

It takes only a matter of seconds for Rhyme to force her eyes open, but it's too late. Joshua is gone.

"Zetta slow," Minamimoto cackles, with a shake of his head. "So zetta slow!"

He doesn't even bother erasing them.

* * *

**Author's note: **If you liked Minamimoto here, read my Minamimoto-centric oneshot: "Pi-face's zetta wonderful maths class" -shot for shameless advertising-

Talking about the story here, I think Rhyme being Neku's partner in the second week would change quite a few things. You probably might not agree with how I've told the story here, but at least it's more interesting than a retelling, eh?

Two more chapters after this!


	6. Neku, Day 7

**Author's note: **Yeah, this took a while coming. I also edited the first chapter, deleted some of the material and copypasted it here where it feels more in context. I am that bone lazy.

* * *

_One day, she found herself peering at his face, and she realised that somehow, without any conscious memorisation, she knew every detail of his face. When he noticed her looking, he said, "Whatchu starin' at?" and she was somehow startled that she knew exactly how his shoulders would hunch, how his eyes would shine with something tender even though he was meant to be scowling._

_The first time it happened, she thought, "I should have known this before."_

_And somehow, she feels repulsed._

**Neku, Day 7**

In this world, people live and people die, and more people die than they live.

In this world, only a precious few are offered a second chance. Rhyme knows that she does not deserve to be among the number. (She doesn't have a dream, after all.) But Neku does. Neku does, and so do Shiki and Beat.

The final day of the Reaper Game has begun.

* * *

There's something odd about the mission mail.

Rhyme is not looking forward to confronting the Game Master – it's the last day, and Joshua hasn't been seen since Day 4. Rhyme has spent the days looking frantically, but the whole time she has felt weighted down by the knowledge of what she does not know. But she grits her teeth and gets to her feet anyway.

They walk, all the way through the bustling crowds.

Somewhere, on the way to Pork City, Rhyme holds onto Neku's arm and whispers, "We have to stick close." Neku stiffens – he is not used to being touched – but it's not the end of the world.

Yet.

* * *

The climax is upon them before they know it. That is what happens to people who walk without a dream.

It plays out the way a final boss battle should, with all the appropriate drama and adrenaline. Rhyme doesn't bother thinking about it. The fight against Minamimoto is exhausting but there is something satisfying about the end of it that makes Rhyme savour the moment. She wonders why she never had a dream.

Then Minamimoto is gone, and that's no longer the important thing.

* * *

Rhyme knows there is something wrong when Minamimoto begins reciting pi to goodness-knows-how-many decimal places. She feels a slippery, sickening sensation in her stomach, the keen knowledge that something terrible is soon to happen. She knows this feeling, because she felt it only seconds before Beat was erased. It was the feeling she experienced as she watched it all happen.

There is no longer any time for indecision.

* * *

Her dreams. Her aspirations. Maybe there is nothing but static when she thinks in the long-term, but there is Beat. Beat is enough.

Dreams evolve. They change, they become known to their owner. Past regrets well up inside her to form what becomes her future desire. She thinks of Neku and of Tin Pin, of Joshua and her days in WildKat. Since dying, she has learned what it means to be alive.

Without hesitation, she pushes Neku out of the way as Minamimoto's flare comes their way.

If that's how dreams come alight, in the sudden burst of insight that comes with experience, that's also how they die.

There are, after all, some payments that not even the Reapers can collect.

Dimly, she can hear Neku yelling her name, but her mind is dull to it. They never found Joshua, but if there is going to be anyone who can continue on, it will be Neku. She is certain of it.

The week is over.

* * *

_Void. _

But it's not the end of the world either, strangely enough.

It's not anything at all.

She feels more pathos than she should, though.

* * *

In Shibuya, the Reaper Games start anew, and a white-haired boy makes his presence known at the Statue of Hachiko.

The price for his involvement is every other player.

Neku stiffens at the sight of his murderer and has to repeat some of Rhyme's sayings to himself ("Beggars can't be choosers!") before he can even stretch out his hand.

* * *

_rhyme, have you ever wondered what you paid to enter the reaper games_

_where's the fun in losing something if you never know you lost it_

Rhyme has played her part and now it is done. The Composer knows this, maybe he played all the cards out himself as a whimsical exercise in what could have been.

The Composer – Rhyme cannot see him but she knows that he is somewhere in the void – is watching, waiting. He is like a child anticipating his turn in a game. He is vaguely curious and amused by her, she knows.

Rhyme feels the ridiculousness in the situation and in the words that echo around the emptiness.

_rhyme rhyme rhyme do you know what you lost_

She doesn't know.

She thinks it's her dreams.

_you are a clever girl _shiver _but what was the dream_

She doesn't know.

But he knows somehow. He is the Composer.

He tells it to her, so easily, and she is so dying with curiosity, she hangs on to every word.

_many many dreams you could do anything you set your mind to_

It becomes clearer. She remembers. SHE REMEMBERS.

_You wanted to be the best sister possible to your big brother Beat._

She has her dream back, but she never earned it.

And just as simply, the Composer takes it away from her again.


	7. Seven Days Later

**Author's note: **Rating went up with this chapter thanks to some strong language. So beware. Also, this is the last chapter. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

From Secret Report 17:

_Even if revived, though, Rhyme still lost the Game. Her entry fee is __**non-refundable**__. I do not know what the girl's entry fee was, but a life without it – the thing she held __**most dear**__ – would be filled with grief and hardship._

_But is the void in one's heart caused by loss never filled?_

_I think it can be. It may take time, but something else will come along to fill that empty space – so long as one enjoys the present._

_In other words, we needn't mourn the loss of that which we hold dear. If only more people realized this…_

_The Composer did not impose the entry fee upon players to cause them anguish._

_In experiencing life without the thing one __**most values**__, Players are forced to reexamine just how crucial those things really are. The hope is that by the close of the Game, Players will be able to __**take a hard look at themselves**__, and be able to take on the future with a __**new outlook on life**__._

_The entry fee exists to force Players to see the truth about themselves. It is a test posed by the Composer to __**spur Players' self-enlightenment**__._

**Seven Days Later…**

Beat wakes up and thinks it was all a dream.

It's when he sees Rhyme that he realises the truth: everything before the Reaper Games was the actual dream. Only now does reality begin.

It is cold and harsh, like a slap to the face.

* * *

There is no one to whom Beat can confide.

Rhyme is out of the question, of course. His parents, too. They don't remember him either, and they had never believed in him to begin with. As for Neku and Shiki, he has only known them for a matter of days. He meets them at the Statue of Hachiko and he is happy about it, he really is, but he cannot ruin their euphoria by piling his problems on them. He's an idiot, but not _that _much of one.

He turns his gaze to Rhyme and she is the one who smiles at him with bubbling content. "We're back, Beat," she says, and her happiness bounces off her like a mirror. "Doesn't it feel so good to be alive?"

And Beat can only say "Yeah." He waits for some acknowledgment of _something _from his sister.

She only continues to smile at him contentedly.

He wants to embrace her and swear to her that he'll never repeat his mistakes, but what kind of lame-ass brother acts that cheesy?

He waits.

* * *

"You changed, man," he says to Neku when he notices the orange-haired boy walk around without his oversized headphones.

Neku hesitates. "Yeah, I guess so," he says at length, and then shrugs. "Thanks to Shiki and Rhyme, I… learned to accept that everyone in Shibuya is different. I was partnered with my murderer for a week."

"Sounds excrucifying, yo."

"Excruciating," Neku corrects him automatically before sighing. "I wonder why Joshua decided to bring everybody back in the end…"

It is clearly a question that has been bothering Neku for a while.

Beat snorts. He's not a thinker for a reason.

(He wishes he wasn't.)

* * *

Beat continues to skateboard every day when he has time. He cannot give up on this manufactured dream of his because Rhyme has fallen so deeply for the charade that Beat does not have the heart to go back on his word.

He skates around all the streets of Shibuya except for Miyashita Park. Miyashita Park has all the best walls and rails for skateboarding stunts, but Beat is sure that going there will be like a punch to the gut.

It is. Cripplingly so.

Beat goes there only because he wants to visit Cat Street. He sees a car hurtling full speed towards him at every corner and he sees himself in his mind's eye throwing his and Rhyme's life away, over and over again for the same pointless, ineffectual reasons.

He hurries on towards Cat Street, even though it is probably just more of the same madness.

* * *

The first time he tries to visit the man who saved him, WildKat is closed. Beat tries again another day because the person he is now is angry about giving up.

The second time he visits, Mr. Hanekoma is there at the counter, and he regards Beat with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"Here to thank me?" he asks. He is wiping one of the plates. Beat remembers from his days as a Noise that this was all that Mr. H ever seemed to do.

Beat is thankful, but… "Screw that," he growls. "I want answers, yo! If you could save me, aintcha smart enough to return Rhyme's memories an' dreams?"

"Only the Composer has that power," Mr. H replies. He is serious now. "Sorry about you and your sister's loss."

Beat slams his fist against the wall. And then he leaves and stands outside fuming, even though it is raining outside.

He waits.

* * *

Rhyme is still – and always will be – his friend.

She tells him about her harrowing experiences in the UG, but she also says, with a gentle smile on her lips: "It's not what happened then that matters now. It's what we choose to do now, don't you think?"

"I don't geddit," Beat mumbles.

"I was aimless when I entered the Game that first time," Rhyme confesses. "I didn't know what I was doing there or what I wanted to do. When you got Erased, I felt so guilty. If I'd only moved quicker, you wouldn't have had to go through what you did. That's what kept me going, Beat. I wanted to save you."

Something twists inside Beat. He wonders if the one who has gone backwards was not her but him.

* * *

The third time he visits WildKat, Joshua is there.

Beat squints at him for a moment, remembering what Rhyme said about the Composer looking like a girly boy with white hair.

It takes him less than a second to figure out what he wants to do from here.

He stomps towards Joshua, exclaims, "Yo, Whiteylocks!" waits for the boy to turn his head towards him, and then punches him in the face.

"Much better," says Beat.

"That wasn't very polite of you," says Joshua. He can still be condescending even as he holds his bruised face.

"That was for messin' with my sister!" Beat roars. He brings his hand back again, ready to launch another punch.

Joshua does not even flinch.

"What the _hell _is wrong with you?" Beat growls furiously. "I'm beatin' you up, you bastard!"

Up at the counter, Mr. H puts down his oily rag and lights one of his cigarettes.

Joshua simply shakes his head.

"You're the only one who's sought me out," he says. "Not even Neku did that."

In his own way, he seems just as hurt and raw as Beat is.

Beat punches him again.

"I don't _get _you!" He is yelling hoarsely now and he does not care if people in the street can hear him. "Whatchu want? Whatchu after? Is playin' with our lives some kinda sick game to you?"

There is a sense of futility to this conversation and Beat can sense it. It serves both to infuriate him and to mellow him. He is choking on his anger and for some reason, he cannot bring himself to punch the Composer again.

It does not occur to him that attempting to punch the Composer in the first place is not a very good idea.

There is silence, and Joshua frowns and turns his head away.

"_Hmph_."

His snort should be pompous and arrogant, but it really isn't.

Beat stares at him.

Joshua speaks up finally. "Tell your sister I said hi." He stands up and he vanishes, just like that, into thin air.

Beat never returns to the café after that.

* * *

The next time Beat catches up with Rhyme, he does not tell her what Joshua said. He is not taking orders from Whiteylocks.

What he does do is something he never expected of himself.

He grabs Rhyme's hand and takes her to Miyashita Park. When they get there, he says nothing for a while, simply watches Rhyme as she looks around with puzzled curiosity.

Beat thinks about the sacrifices Rhyme made for him. He thinks about their time in the RG together and their time now, as friends who will always be friends.

He thinks about their time as siblings, when he thought he had all the time in the world.

He thinks about the dreams he has but does not deserve and the dreams Rhyme deserves but does not have.

He thinks about the love she had for him that exists no longer. She once followed him around when he didn't want to be followed. When he was little, little enough to think taking care of his sister was his job and not hers, she used to cling to his leg. Or maybe he'd pretend to be an aeroplane for her. A plane that could go to America.

She'd always wanted to go to America.

(Actually, she liked Canada better, didn't she?)

And Beat _cries_. He cries, because it is bullshit to pretend that he's not defined by his past and that it will never stop affecting the person who he is.

Rhyme hears him and she is so concerned for him, it is _awful_. "Beat! _Beat_!"

He cuts her off before she can say anything more.

"Rhyme, there's somethin' I gotta tell ya," he says. He does not wait. "About you. About us."

He tells her everything, and there is no more wondering about might have been.

**Fin**

**Afterword: **Thank you for reading this fic all the way to the end! It's not my favourite fic I've written but I really did enjoy writing it a lot. I've always loved the bittersweet siblingship between Beat and Rhyme.

As usual, Frog-kun was experimenting with language in this fic. I tried to use a sparse sort of writing style that tells a story in snippets. Personally, I think it lacks a few vital details, but hopefully, it came together for you readers in the end. (Somewhat.)

Yes, the ending is open-ended. I'm aware I don't explain much about Joshua's involvement in the story. I don't usually leave my plots hanging like this, but the game does kinda use an approach similar to this, so I tried to recreate that aspect of it as best I could. I'm not using these notes to explain all my authorial choices but I will say if any of you readers have any questions about the story, feel free to drop in a review and ask. I won't bite.

Anyway, thank you again for reading this! Not sure when I'm going to write another TWEWY fic, but I'd really love to do it again in the future. Peace!


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